Rotary cultivator.



L. AKSNES.

ROTARY GULTIVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7. 1905.

915,,Q0. PatentedMar. 16, 1909.

ZSHEETS-SHEET NORRIS PETERS. INC. LITNO WASWMTION D C L. AKSNES.

ROTARY CULTIVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1905.

915,40. Patented Mar. 16, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHBET 2.

" NITED l sTATEs PA'EENT ornrcn. A

LoREN'rsAKsNEs, or WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

" Ram' GULTIVATOB. I

' senator.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENTS AKSXES, a subjectof the King-of Norway, residing at Wilkinsburg, in the county 'of Allegheny and 'State ofi'Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Cultivators, of whichthe following is a speci-,

fication.

My invention relates to that .class of ma- I machines in-which the earth is cut and turned overby means of a series of revolving spades or blades, mounted upon a main driving shaft adapted to be operated from any suitable form of carriage to which it may be attached; and its objects'are to provide an apparatus wherein the parts are so constructed and arrangedthat the blades will be acted upon by centrifugal force in. a manner to cause them to enter the ground in the most advantageous position and at'the moment when they have attained their maximum velocity, and one in which the blade after it has entered the round, will, to ether with a piece of earth, be forced 'in a irection opposite to that in which the machine is moving, at a compara-.

tively low speed, thereby greatly reducing the strain upon the blades and; operating mechanism. It is. also an object of my invention to rovide a connection between the blades an main driving shaft of suflicient flexibility to take up any 'jar consequent upon theimpact of the blades againstthe ground or any heavy obstacles which may be met, and to so mount the blades that they 35 will befree to pass over and not be forced through the earthafterit has been turned. A further ob'ect is a construction of apparatus in 'w ich the revolving blades or cutters and operating mechanism may be mounted in an'independent'supportmgframe capable of being raised and .lo'were hen desired, and-readily connected to any preferred form of carriage.

them,

, These objects, and other advantages which may hereinafter a pear, I attain by means-of theconstruction i ustrated in preferred form in theaccompanying drawings, wherein.

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved rotary cultivator as applied to a traction engine or motor, the bla es being shown), for the purpose of illustration, in the extreme position to which centrifugal force brings Figure 2 is a side \elevation ofthe' same, showing the supporting frame lowered and Patented March 16, 1909.

the blades in the relative positions they will assume when the machine is in operation;

Figure 3 a similar view, on an enlarged scale, of a pair of blades attached to the operating shaft and illustrating the manner in which they enter the ground and pass over the same after it has been turned;

Figure 4 a similar view, showing a modified form of the mechanism employed to connect the blades to the operating shaft.

Figure 5 a similar view showing a still further modification of the same, and Figure 6 a detail view of one end of the shaft employed to raise and lower the frame supporting the blades and operating shaft, together with the clutch employed to permit the frame to be raisedwhen the machine is in operation, independently of the actuat' worm and also for throwing said shaft an worm into'and out of engagement, as desired.

In my preferred construction of cultiva-' tors a link of suitable length is interposed between the blade and the lever which acts as a carrier and is secured to the operating shaft, which link increases the range of motion of the blade to such an extent that it enters the ground at the moment when it has attained its greatest velocity, and 'will be igradually stopped by the resistance oflere by the ground before the connecting link has reached the limit of its free motion, and as the connecting link is tov a certain extent flexible, any. sudden jar to the apparatus will a be avoided;

Inthe practice of my invention I provide a. series of revolving cutting blades or choppers 7, which may be of any referred form, as for instance that shown in igures 3 and 4 of the accom anying drawings, which I have found well a apted for use in connection-with my apparatus, and which consist of a body or spade portion 8,'provided with an arm or handle 9 extending at anangle from the upper edge thereof and having a strengthe rib 10 centrally located upon its face; sal rib extending alongthe handle and being continuedto a point on the spade at or near where it enters the ground, and conformin approximately to the shape of thespade an handle, and at the point 8" where arm 9 and blade 8 join, the latter is thickened out in the form ofa hump in order to provide additional weight. at point. A cutter constructed in accordance with the above, while fulfilling all of the requirements of a spade, is

slide over such obstruction and free the spade "without-injury to the apparatus and by reason of the distribution of weight due tothe hump 8, the blade will always strike the ground in an approximately vertical position; in a manner to be presently described. The construction of the blades can be varied to suit different conditions of Work Without in any way departing from the nature of my invention.

The revolving blades 7, are arranged in pairs as "illustrated in-Figures 3, 4 and 5,

around a horizontal transversedriving shaft 11, and are connected to the same through the medium of two-armed carrier levers 12, and spring links 13. The links 13 are made of a single rod of spring steel, and their flexibility is increased by means of several bends in them adjacent to the ends, as illustrated in Figure 1. The carrier levers 12 are rigidly connected to the shaft 11 and are provided at or near their outer ends with bearings 14 into which are journaled one end of the links 13. The arms 12 as shown in Figure 3, may also be provided adjacent to said bearings with stops 15 against which the bends near the inner ends of the links 13 abut, thereby limiting the movement of the same To the outer ends of the links 13 are pivotally connected the blades 7, their range of movement being controlled by the bends in'the links at this oint, against which the arms 9 abut.

When the shaft 11 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow a, in Figure 3, the blades will be thrown outward by centrifugal force, and during their travel down- Ward will assume a substantially vertical'position by reason of theweight 8 which will cause them to swing around their pivot oints until the arm 9 abuts against the bend 1n the link 13 and increase in velocity until they come in contact with the ground. As

the shaft 11 continues to rotate, the blades 7 will be held in an upright position until the carrier lever 12 has passed its lowest position and begins to rise. As the carrier lever 12 is comparatively short and is nearest its lowest position when the blade enters the ground, the blade and a portion of ground will be pulled slowly backward, or in a direction opposite to the travel of the machine, and as the carrier lever rises the blade will operate, first to turn the portion of. ground over, and will then continueto swing and pass over the same until it is free, when centrifugal force will act to throw the links and blades out into osition for another thrust, as illustrated in i 'ures 2 and 3.

Tn my improved form of apparatus I prefer to make useof a large number of blades arranged around a shaft at different angles, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, although use of special forms of blades which might be desirable for certain classes of work.

A still further form of modification in the manner of mounting the blades on the shaft, is shown in Figure 5, the carrier lever in this instance being in the form of a flat spring, and having an additional link 17 interposed between the link 13 and carrier lever 12, for the purpose of giving a greater range of movement to the blade 7. In this construction a greater number of links can be used if desired, and they may be either in the form of a spring, as before, or rigid, as the carrier lever 12 will, in this construction, afford the necessary amount of flexibility to the apparatus.

The shaft 11 may be supported and rotated from any suitable carriage, such for instance as that illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, wherein said shaft is mounted in a supporting frame 18, which in turn is journaled upon a shaft 19 mounted in bearings 20 upon the frame of a suitable carriage 21, in such a manner as to allow the frame 18 to be raised and lowered at its rear end. The shaft 19 also serves as a power shaft andis provided at its ends with sprocket wheels 22 which in turn are connected .to similar wheels 23, upon the ends of the shaft 11, by means of chains 24.

A suitable motor 25, of any preferred form is mounted upon the carriage 21 and serves to rotate the shaft 19, through the medium of a clutch and gear mechanism 26, which may be of any desired construction. The motor 25 also serves to propel the apparatus and to raise and lower the frame 18 in. a manner to be presently described. y

The frame 18 is provided with two segmental gears 27 which intermesh with pinions 28 and 29, mounted upon a transverse shaft 30 journaled in bearings 31 secured to the shaft 30, While the other, 29, is secured to the shaft by means of a key 32v which permits it to be shifted longitudinally along the shaft as indicated in Figure 6. The pinion 29 is also provided with a ratchet 33 which engages with a corresponding ratchet attached to a worm wheel 34 loosely mounted upon the shaft 30. The two ratchets are held normally in contact witheach other by a spring 35 secured 2].]?011I1dvtl18 shaft 30. The worm wheel'is operated by means of a worm and shaft 36, which are rotated when desired, through the medium'of a reversing gear 37 mounted on said shaft 65 any number of blades set at any desired and adapted to intermesh with agear on the revolve independently of the worm wheel 34,

in one direction, thus permitting the frame 18 to be lifted freely if desired.

If desired, a harrow 38 or any-other implement may be attached to the rear of the frame 18, as shown in Fi ure 2, and when such attachment is used, t e ratchet 33 is thrown out of engagement with the worm wheel 34 and the frame allowed to rest upon such attachment.

Havingthus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. A cultivator comprising a blade, a rotary actuatin device and a spring link entirely supporting the blade from the actuatingdevice. 4

2. A cultivator comprising a blade, a rotatable-shaft, an arm on said shaft and a spring link entirely supporting the blade from the arm.

3. A cultivator comprising a blade, a rotatable'shaft, an arm on said shaft and a supportin link pivoted to the blade and arm.

4. A on tivator comprising a blade, arotatable shaft, an arm on said shaftzand a spring link pivoted to the blade and arm and servin to connect and support the blade from t e arm at all times.

5. A cultivator comprising a series of blades, a rotatable shaft, a series of arms on said shaft, spring links connecting the blades and arms and serving to support the blades from the arms, together with means for supporting and rotating the shaft and blades.

6. A cultivator comprising a series of blades, a rotary actuating device, flexible supporting connections between the blade.

and actuating device, together withmeans for supporting and rotating the actuating' device.

1 7. A cultivator comprising a series of blades, a rotatable shaft, a series of arms-on said shaft, spring links entirely supporting the blades from the arms, a frame in which said shaft is mounted, a carriage carrying said frame, together with-means for raisin and lowering the frame and rotating the shaft. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

LORENTS' AKSNES 

